


Wherever You Find Love

by Anonymous



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 17:40:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17146160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Shorter and Yut-Lung steal a moment during the family holiday party.





	Wherever You Find Love

**Author's Note:**

> just an excuse to write soft shorter/yut-lung feels. title taken from the best christmas movie of all time, "the muppet christmas carol"

Yut-Lung escapes to the sitting room adjacent the living room, the sound of carols fading behind him as he closes the door.  It’s dark here - only the Christmas lights draped along the bookshelves provide light, soft greens and reds and whites. Wine glass in hand, he allows his shoulders to drop for the first time this evening. Wrapping his free arm around himself, he steps toward the large windows at the front of the room, frosty with last night’s snow. The outside world is much the same – dark, but with flashes of electric color beaming from different Christmas decorations along the neighbors’ yard.

Peace.

That is, until the sitting room door’s swing opens, ushering in the voices of no less than a dozen individuals. Yut-Lung tenses, sucks in a breath and wills the spike of anxiety to quell itself.

Behind him, Shorter’s yelling something at Sing before closing the door behind him.

“You okay?”

Yut-Lung turns at last, an elegant turn of his head to offer his boyfriend a thin smile. “I just needed a moment.”

Shorter gives him a look, the one that says ‘I don’t quite believe you but I’m not going to push you’, and Yut-Lung is grateful.

“I know it’s probably… a lot. Usually it’s just Nadia, Sing, and me,” Shorter explains, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets as he comes to stand behind Yut-Lung. “But with Charlie, and Sing inviting half of China Town, it got a little out of hand.

Lifting his glass to his lips, Yut-Lung hums and takes a delicate sip of his wine. “You don’t have to apologize for your family, Shorter. They’re kind.”

 _Kinder than you deserve_. An icy hand clenches his heart; he takes another sip of wine to warm himself.

“Did your family ever spend the holidays together?”

Yut-Lung snorts, swirls the remaining wine in his glass. “Hardly. My brothers spent Christmas Day with their wives and children, pretending like I didn’t exist and they didn’t whore me out to everyone businessman they could for the holiday season.”

 _Merry Christmas,_ he thinks bitterly swallows the rest of his wine and places the glass on a side table. Sweet red – but not as sweet as his brothers’ blood painting their walls.

There’s a hand on his hip, a comforting touch, and Yut-Lung gathers his courage to meet Shorter’s eyes. There’s nothing but concern, laced with a kindling of anger that Shorter always burns with when Yut-Lung mentions the cruelty of his brothers.

He knows Shorter; he loves him and trusts him in ways he’s never had with another person, and yet, he’s still surprised every time Shorter doesn’t react with disgust or disdain for what Yut-Lung has done in the past.

“If I could, I’d resurrect them so I could kill them all over again. It’d be my Christmas present to you,” Shorter says, and there’s just enough ire that Yut-Lung is certain he’s not joking.

Yut-Lung manages another tiny smiles, leans back into Shorter’s strong chest as Shorter wraps his arms around him, “You utter romantic.”

“That’s me,” Shorter chirps, leans in to press a kiss to Yut-Lung’s cheek.

Silence eases between the, comfortable and intimate, as they stare out the window; a soft snow has started again, gentle puffs of fluffy ice that cascade like a fairytale come alive. _Peace_ , Yut-Lung reminds himself. _Here, there is peace._

“There was one holiday with my mother,” Yut-Lung murmurs, slim fingers wrapping around Shorter’s arm for courage. “I don’t remember much - just that she woke me up early to celebrate. We ate my favorite foods and played all day. She told me I was the greatest gift she’s ever received.”

Emotion aches in his chest, threatens to prickle his eyes. “It was my first and last good holiday. Until today, that is.”

Shorter squeezes him a little tighter, fierce, protective, loving. “She’d be so proud of you.”

Tears well now, and Yut-Lung carefully wipes them away, minding his eyeliner. “Yours would be too. And I know Nadia is.”

Huffing a laugh, Shorter presses his lips to Yut-Lung’s cheek again, soft and lingering, before trailing down to his jawline.

“She likes you a lot, you know.”

What should reassure Yut-Lung only stings, a throbbing wasp stinger pumping poison into his veins. “She shouldn’t.”

Shorter reaches his neck, kisses the life-affirming pulse point that has Yut-Lung sighing, head tilting to the side. “She’s asked me when I’m gonna marry you,” he murmurs against pale skin.

The world _stops_ as Yut-Lung gasps, which must have been more audible than he intended; he can _feel_ Shorter smiling against him.

_Marry Shorter? Become a true member of the Wong family?_

_(They’d never want you.)_

“How absurd,” Yut-Lung says, an automatic response that tumbles past his lips before he can stop it. He pauses, fingers still curled around Shorter’s arm. “What did you tell her?”

“That until I see a ring on her finger, she has no right to harass me about a ring on yours.”

Yut-Lung laughs, another mechanical, forced reaction. “Fair.”

“But,” Shorter tacks on, slower this time. “I don’t hate the idea.”

Warmth burns Yut-Lung’s cheeks as all breath escapes him. He turns in Shorter’s arm, carefully looks into Shorter’s eyes to find any sign of jest, or hint that this is a dream, and the throbbing of his heart almost drowns out Sing’s loud voice in the background, barking about dumplings.

No teasing. Just the same steadfast, genuine belief and affection that Shorter has always had, the kind that makes Yut-Lung forget the demons under his bed and in his head.

Turning back, he leans into Shorter against, tilting his head against his shoulder.

Snow outside the window, fire in the hearth. A house full of happy family members, blood or otherwise, their voices rising in another song, led by Charlie this time.

_Family. Love._

_Everything you’ve wanted._

“I don’t hate it, either,” Yut-Lung says at last, his voice small and quiet.

Shorter kisses his cheek, and again, Yut-Lung can feel his broad smile.

“Can we stay here for a little while longer?”

“Mmhmm,” Shorter says, leaning his head against Yut-Lung’s. “As long as you’d like.”

Smiling, Yut-Lung melts against him, eyes half-lidded in contentment as he watches the snow dance outside.

 _Forever_ , his heart asks. _Forever._


End file.
